Century Pacific breaks into FTSE Asia Pacific index

TUNA canner Century Pacific Food Inc. (CNPF) is set to debut on the FTSE Global Equity Index Series for Asia Pacific ex-Japan next week.

Meanwhile, infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) will be moving up to the large-cap category from the small-cap index, replacing Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI), which will be transferred to the mid-cap index, a FTSE statement said on Monday.

The rebalancing of the FTSE Global Equity Index Series for Asia Pacific ex-Japan will take effect on March 20 following a six-month review of over 7,400 securities in 47 different countries.

FTSE indexes serve as performance benchmarks and aid in the creation of a broad range of financial products, including index tracking funds, derivatives, and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).

Based on the Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB) used by the FTSE Group, companies in the large cap category have a market capitalization of over 1 billion euros, while mid-cap firms have a market cap of from 150 million to 1 billion euros, and small cap companies have a market cap of below 150 million euros.

As of February 2017, there are 25 Philippine firms out of 959 companies included in the FTSE Global Equity Index Series for Asia Pacific ex-Japan.

The top five firms in the index are: Korea’s Samsung Electronics; Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing; China’s Tencent Holdings; the Commonwealth Bank of Australia; and Westpac Banking Corp. also of Australia.